Why being popular is a good thing ... (sometimes).

Yesterday morning before class begun, I was talking with some of the teens about their week.  Discussion usually ranges from the movies they watched, the events they attended or how they got dumped by their true love after two days of dating.

This week, one person in particular was talking about being popular. 
Her exact words were, "I am the popular kid at school."  I pushed her a bit further and asked if being popular was always a good thing.
---She said, "YES."

Irony began to run its course as we read from the book of Matthew.

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

In life, there are 2 paths that you can take:

The first one is the Narrow Road. This road leads to life, has less traffic than the Wide Road and was blazed by Jesus himself.

On the other hand, the Wide Road is full of people but its final destination is destruction.  This road also has a trailblazer, his name is Adam.

So you see, being popular is not always a good thing, it depends largely on which road you find yourself traveling on.

If being popular means following the way of the world, the Wide Road, then consider yourself popular in a very unhealthy way.  There is a powerful quote I heard years ago which states, "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right." 

--Think about that statement for a moment. 

---Think about your choices that you have been making. 

-----Think about the people that you surround yourself with.

Now ask yourself

"What road am I traveling on?"

The flip side of this is that being popular can be a really good thing as long as you find yourself walking down the Narrow Road.  I watched the movie Soul Surfer recently which is based on a true story about Bethany Hamilton. At the age of thirteen, Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack.  It was striking to see how self-aware Hamilton was/is about impacting her world for the good by getting involved in Kingdom living after the tragic event.  In a very real way, she is intentional about walking down the Narrow Road.


So there you have it.  
-2 Roads 
-2 Trailblazers
-2 Destinations
-2 Kinds of Popularity

Here is what I know for sure.

                 You and I will be making choices in life...

                               Those choices over time will reveal which of the 2 roads we are on.